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Report card helps chart CMSD strategy

CMSD NEWS BUREAU

9/14/2017

CMSD’s latest state report card serves as a reminder that, despite progress made under reforms in The Cleveland Plan, more work remains to be done if CMSD students are to keep pace with their peers in Ohio.

The report card, released today, shows a number of positive signs:

CMSD’s four-year graduation rate increased 2.8 percent and reached 71.9 percent, the latest in a series of record highs for the District. The rate has increased nearly 20 percent in six years, and ranks first in growth since 2010 among Ohio's large urban districts.

The K-3 literacy grade jumped from an F to a C. The number of students on track in reading more than doubled from the previous year.

In third through eighth grade, the District saw gains nearly across the board in reading and math. In several grades, gains exceeded estimated state averages.

Thirteen high schools recorded graduation rates that surpass the District average, and nine had rates that ranged from 85.9 percent to 100 percent. Three high schools – New Tech East, Max S. Hayes and Washington Park Environmental Studies – and the District’s alternative School of One program saw double-digit gains in graduation.

K-8 schools increased the number of students who are proficient in reading by average of about 8 percent, while the number proficient in math rose an average of 5.3 percent. A fourth of the 69 K-8 schools raised reading proficiency by at least 11.85 percent and a fourth raised math proficiency by at least 9.8 percent.

High schools increased the number of students proficient in English by an average of about 10 percent and a fourth increased the number by at least 14.8 percent.

A number of schools saw double-digit percentages of students move out of limited or below basic proficiency, in some cases by more than 30 percent.

The District received failing marks for value-added, a measure of whether students made the progress expected of them in a year. CMSD’s performance index, a composite of all test scores, came within 1 percent of a D but fell short.

Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon vowed to further improve on the “bookends” -- gains in K-3 literacy and graduation -- while bearing down on strategies for the area in between.

“I am confident we can do it – I am very confident,” he said. “What we need to do now, more than ever, is go from ‘We can" to "We must and we will.’ ”

Gordon acknowledged that the District is "far from where we need to be" as it tries to meet higher state learning standards and test scores that students must meet to pass. But CMSD is not alone in its struggles.

For example, all members of the Ohio 8 group of urban districts received F's in value-added. And while CMSD's promotion rate in third-grading reading fell from 85.3 to 79.6 percent, a number of other school systems were hit harder.

Not all progress is reflected on a state report card. The Ohio Department of Education has invited districts to create online links that show such improvements.

CMSD’s link reflects significant advances in areas such as parent involvement, student attendance, enrollment high-quality preschool and graduation of students who head off to college without needing remediation.